DREAMers Accuse The United States Mail

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A group of young people in the DACA program who were seeking the renewal of their immigration status are pointing to the United States Postal Service as responsible for a delay in sending their documents and now they claim that this has caused the rejection of their applications.

According to a report by The New York Times, attorneys for at least 33 youth in the New York area who were in the country under the protection of the Deferred Action Consideration for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) mandate.) reported delays. According to them, the shipments were destined for a regional processing office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) located in Chicago.

Defenders allege that their clients' requests were sent weeks before the deadline set by said agency, set for October 5.

However, in different instances, the applications remained in transit to their destination, and some even "disappeared" from the route to reappear days later and be delivered too late. In many of the cases, attorneys claimed they had made the shipment by certified mail to track it.

"Just because someone did not do their job properly, we are taking these young immigrants and making them [people] who can be deported," said Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez, a Democratic representative from Illinois.

In that state, 41 cases of DREAMers were reported whose papers were not delivered on time by the postal service. "This is unacceptable," said Gutiérrez, who gave as an example the cases of two young people who sent their applications on September 13 and 21, respectively, and were delivered on October 6 and 9, that is, both were untimely.

The DACA program was created through a directive from former President Barack Obama and protected 800,000 young people who came to the United States as children from deportation, as long as they renewed a permit every two years and had no criminal record. This mandate is at stake due to the announcement of the cancellation of the DACA that the administration of President Donald Trump made in September and that would leave these young people called DREAMers on edge.

According to the same report, DREAMers attorneys in other cities such as Boston and Philadelphia pointed out that their clients suffered no mishap with their shipments.

After the publication of the aforementioned report, and in an unprecedented event, the Postal Service issued a statement to admit his guilt in the delay. "[There was] an unintended delay in mail processing in the Chicago area," said David A. Partenheimer, a spokesman for the agency.

But so far, the USCIS has been relentless: "In accordance with USCIS regulations, a request is considered to have been received by USCIS in accordance with the date on the location receipt where such request was made," he said. through another statement Steve Blando, spokesman for said agency. "USCIS is not responsible for the postal delivery service chosen by an individual or for delays by the postal service of its providers."

According to the Times, the Citizenship and Immigration Service concluded that their decisions were final, although later their spokesperson assured that they would work with the USPS "to understand and address why the USPS error that caused the delay occurred."

Now the DREAMers who were left out are studying the options they have left. And the situation is quite delicate: since the DACA was an initiative carried out by President Obama in 2012, but was never approved, it is technically impossible to appeal any decision around it.